1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to electrical connectors, particularly to the USB (Universal Serial Bus) connector having shielding thereon for latchably coupling to a complementary cable connector.
2. The Prior Art
The USB connector is generally a new type connector in the computer field, which is intended to integrate the most different type I/O connectors, such as D-Sub connectors and Mini-Dins, positioned on the backpanel of the computer, to be in a standard form. FIG. 1 shows one type proposed USB connector and its mating corresponding cable connector disclosed in Universal Serial Bus Specification Revision 0.9 wherein the USB connector 1 includes a housing 2 with a shell 3 surrounding the housing 2 and a space 8 between the housing 2 and the shell 3 for mating with a plug section 4 of a complementary cable connector 5 therein for mechanical and electrical connection between the contacts 9 of the USB connector 1 and the contacts 10 of such complementary cable connector 5 whereby at least a pair of spring tangs 6 of the USB connector 1 may be engageably and latchably received within an opening 7 of the plug section 4 of the cable connector 5.
Such proposed USB connector 1 disclosed in FIG. 1 may have the following disadvantages: (1) It lacks a strong structure thereof; (2) the front portion of such USB connector substantially projects out of the backpanel of the computer case, and may form an improper obstacle during handling or shipping the computer case; and (3) the outwardly bent distal end portion 3' of the shell 3 of the USB connector 1 is designedly exposed externally behind the backpanel of the computer case, thus resulting in poor grounding function with the backpanel of the computer case, and also resulting in dangerous edges to hurt the user's fingers during coupling the complementary cable connector 5 to the USB connector 1.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a USB connector having a reinforcement structure between the outer shield and the inner housing for reliable engagement with the complementary cable connector.
Another object of the invention is to provide a USB connector having means for grounding with the complementary cable connector and also for releasably retaining the complementary cable connector thereto.
Yet an object of the invention is to provide a USB connector having devices for grounding with the backpanel of the computer case.
Another object of the invention is to provide a USB connector having shielding means for covering five faces of its cubic contour except the bottom face which has no shielding attached thereon and is seated on the mother board.